BILLETS, system of quartering of troops in private households. In St. Petersburg billeting was practised from the very foundation of the city until 1906, resorted to due to an absence or lack of barracks

BLACKOUT. Intentional power cuts throughout the city at night during times of war in an effort to prevent aerial attacks. The blackout system was introduced in Leningrad in December 1939, and lasted till March 1940

BOMBINGS OF 1941-44. Raids by the German Luftwaffe against Leningrad, meant to destroy industrial, military and civilian targets during the Siege of 1941-44. The first air raid on the city occurred on 23 June 1941; in the period from 6 September

BREAKING OF THE SIEGE 1943, 12 - 30 January, an offensive operation, code named "Iskra" (Sparkle), along the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts by Baltic Fleet forces in the region of the Schlisselburg-Sinyavino heights

CADET CORPS were military educational secondary boarding schools. Until 1917, they were aimed mainly at the nobility. The education began in cadet corps from the ages of 10-12 (in the 1770s-90s, from 5-8), and lasted seven to fifteen years

CAVALRY LIFE GUARDS REGIMENT, cavalry guard regiment, formed in 1730 as Cavalry Guards out of the Kronschlott Dragoon Regiment, whose history dates back to 1706. From the 1780s, known as Cavalry Life Guards Regiment

CENTROBALT (Baltic Fleet Central Committee), elected body, set up on 28-30 April (11-13 May).1917 in Helsingfors (Baltic Fleet headquarters). The first membership of Centrobalt included 33 people; the chairman was Bolshevik P.E. Dybenko

CHASSEUR LIFE GUARDS REGIMENT, infantry guards regiment. Formed in 1796 as a battalion, in 1806 deployed into a regiment. Participated in the Napoleonic Wars of 1805, 1806-07, 1812-14, wars with Turkey 1828-29, 1877-78

CHICHAGOV Vasily Yakovlevich (1728-1809, St. Petersburg), Admiral. Graduated from the School of Mathematics and Navigational Sciences (1742), completed an internship in the British Navy, from 1745 served in the Baltic Fleet

COSSACK LIFE GUARDS REGIMENT, regiment of guards cavalry, recruited from the Don Cossacks. Formed in 1795 out of the Don and Chuguev Court Cossack Companies (set up in 1775) and the Gatchina Cossack Regiment (set up in 1793) as the Hussar Cossack

DRAGOON LIFE GUARDS REGIMENT, Cavalry Guards Regiment, raised on 3.4.1814 in Versailles near Paris as a Horse Chasseur Regiment, on 30 April 1814 was designated the Horse Chasseur Life Guards Regiment and was granted the privileges of the New Guards

DUEL (single combat, satisfaction), singe combat of two individuals with the same weapons (epee, sabre, pistol, rarely - others) and in fair conditions, held according to definite rules in the presence of witnesses (seconds) from both parties at the

EVACUATION OF 1941-43. The relocation of people, equipment and capital from Leningrad during the Siege, conducted according to regulations set by the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (of Bolsheviks) and the Soviet of People's